| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to assistance provided to a person applying for an early |
|
|
voting ballot or voting an early voting ballot by mail; increasing a |
|
|
criminal penalty. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 84.003(c), Election Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(c) An offense under this section is a state jail felony |
|
|
[Class A misdemeanor]. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Sections 86.010(c) and (e), Election Code, are |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(c) The person assisting the voter must sign a written oath |
|
|
[prescribed by Section 64.034] that is part of the certificate on |
|
|
the official carrier envelope. The text of the oath must read as |
|
|
follows: |
|
|
"I swear (or affirm) that I will not suggest, by word, sign, |
|
|
or gesture, how the voter should vote; I will confine my assistance |
|
|
to answering the voter's questions, to stating propositions on the |
|
|
ballot, and to naming candidates and, if listed, their political |
|
|
parties; I will prepare the voter's ballot as the voter directs; and |
|
|
I am not the voter's employer, an agent of the voter's employer, or |
|
|
an officer or agent of a labor union to which the voter belongs. I |
|
|
understand that if I violate these requirements, I am committing a |
|
|
criminal offense." |
|
|
(e) A person who assists a voter to prepare a ballot to be |
|
|
voted by mail shall enter the person's signature, printed name, |
|
|
[and] residence address, and the manner in which the person |
|
|
assisted the voter on the official carrier envelope of the voter. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 86.013(b), Election Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(b) Spaces must appear on the reverse side of the official |
|
|
carrier envelope for: |
|
|
(1) indicating the identity and date of the election; |
|
|
[and] |
|
|
(2) entering the signature, printed name, and |
|
|
residence address of a person other than the voter who deposits the |
|
|
carrier envelope in the mail or with a common or contract carrier; |
|
|
and |
|
|
(3) indicating the manner of any assistance provided |
|
|
by a person assisting the voter. |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |